When did God give the day of
Rest to Adam and Eve?
God gave the 7th day Sabbath rest to Adam AFTER
the day ended…..which means that God did not give Adam the Sabbath when the
seventh day began. God didn’t command Adam or Eve to keep that first Sabbath.
In order to keep the Sabbath in harmony with the 4th commandment,
Adam and Eve needed to work six days first because the commandment says, “Six
days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath
of the Lord your God.” How could they have rested that first Sabbath and kept
the commandment, if they had not previously worked six days? This is why Adam
and Eve were commanded by God to keep the second rather than the first Sabbath
of human history.
Also how could Adam and Eve have been commanded by God to
keep the Sabbath holy, if the Sabbath wasn’t holy until it ended? It’s because
the first Sabbath wasn’t made holy until the end of the day. God couldn’t have
told Adam and Eve to “keep the Sabbath holy” because it wasn’t yet holy. It was
the presence of God in that day which made it holy. Furthermore, God gave Adam
and Eve an example of Sabbath observance, but He couldn’t have asked them to
follow His example until after He had first given that example. Now we know why God didn’t command Adam and
Eve to keep that first Sabbath, but since they couldn’t keep that first
Sabbath….what did Adam and Eve do on that first Sabbath?
To answer that question we need to read Genesis 1:26-31.
This passage tells us that Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day of
creation. This means that they were both present when God rested on the seventh
day. They didn’t see God create anything at all, but they were able to observe
God’s rest. They also certainly did see how God rested on that day. This is
very clear when you read Exodus 20:8-10, which tells us what Adam and Eve did
on the Sabbath, the very first Sabbath. Exodus 20:8-10 says the following:
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you
shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the
Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your
daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor
your stranger who is within your gates.”
In the verse God was telling the children of Israel about
the Sabbath. The fact that the law was given directly to the children of
Israel, however, doesn’t mean it was only for them. Many Christians would agree
that the Ten Commandments apply to all people….except for the fourth
commandment. Now that doesn’t make much sense now does it? Because the Bible
tells us that if you break one of God’s ten commandment’s you are guilty of
breaking them all!! They either stand together or fall together. As the passage
in Exodus 20:8-10 that we just read goes on, God tells us why He wants us to
work six days and rest the seventh:
“For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,
the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the
Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it’.
God is asking us all to follow His example. He worked six
days and rested one. Now He wants us to do that too…..because of His example. I
mean don’t you agree that what parents exemplify is much more powerful then
what they command? This is the foundational reasoning for keeping the seventh
day holy as given to us by God. See what
God is saying here? God is saying, “you work six, and you newack (or experience
rest) on the seventh.” He even tells us
the reason behind the injunction: “Because at the very beginning of the world,
I worked six days and rested on the seventh, and I want you to follow my
example.” It’s kind of like a father showing his son how to play with lego’s.
The father will sit his son down with him and build/create something out of the
lego blocks as the son is watching. Then the father will take it all apart and
say to the son…..ok son, “now you do it.” That’s exactly what we have at
creation. God observed the Sabbath, and then said to Adam and Eve, “Did you see
how I did that? Now you do the same. Keep the Sabbath as you saw me keep it.” God
rested on the Sabbath day in gladness. It was a day of joy and resting, a day
of contemplation of God’s magnificent work, His masterpiece. God, together with
the heavenly host, totally enjoyed what He had made. So does the Sabbath sound
evil, a bad thing, or a curse? The way many/most Christians today talk, you
would certainly think that it was.
Remember the Sabbath was essential for man, or God wouldn’t
have created it. God saw that a Sabbath was essential for man even in paradise.
So if the Sabbath was needed by man in paradise, would it not be much more
necessary for us today in this world full of sin? Of course the answer is yes
on that one!! Man needed to lay aside his own interests and pursuits for one
day of the seven that he might more fully contemplate the works of God and
meditate upon His power and goodness. Man needed a Sabbath to remind him more
vividly of God and awaken gratitude because all that he enjoyed and possessed
came from the beneficent hand of the Creator. I mean isn’t it true? So do you
see why God created the Sabbath? What the purpose of the Sabbath is? Why God
established the Sabbath right at the very beginning? It was so man would
remember Him. That’s why the fourth commandment beings “remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy”. This is why at the end of the commandment, it’s as if God
says, “The reason why I want you to remember the Sabbath day is because it
reminds you of the great Creator of the heavens and the earth, His awesome
greatness, His power, and His love towards you, in giving you everything
without even asking for it.”
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